Phasmids – Leaf and Stick Insects

Ever been outside and seen something moving out of the corner of your eye? But then looked and not been able to see anything? Well – it could have been a phasmid! Phasmids are Leaf and Stick Insects and they are really good at Hide and Seek! Well – the hiding part anyway! They look just like leaves or thin sticks and so camouflage extremely well! They are vegetarian; even though some of them look gnarly, with spiky legs and long wings, so only eat leaves! Males are usually smaller than females and can fly because they have skinny bodies. Don’t tell the females – but their bodies are too fat to allow them to fly, even though they do have wings!

Mum was saying that the females release a special perfume from under their wings called a pheromone. (Don’t worry - it took me ages to be able to say that word!) The perfume attracts the males so they can ‘go on a date’ – but I knew mum meant mating. Then afterwards the female can lay up to four eggs a day everyday for the rest of her life!! Whoa, that’s heaps! They live for about 18months! Have a look at the photos I got together of some different species of Phasmids – mum even helped me take a close up photo of some Goliath Stick Insect eggs!